Agenda and Program

The program was crafted by the science organizing committee, and only included invited talks:

Tuesday, August 19– General Reviews

8:00 – 8:30    Coffee

8:30 – 8:40    Welcome & Introduction

                        Charles Alcock, director (SAO)

                        Larry Ramsey, SOC chair (Penn State)

Session I.    General review talks    chair: Larry Ramsey

8:40 – 9:30    Overview: optical fibers in astronomy - today and tomorrow

                        Sam Barden (AIP) and Gabor Furesz (SAO)

9:30 – 10:30    Fiber manufacturing

                            Teodor Tichindelean (Polymicro)

10:30 – 10:45    Coffee

10:45 – 11:45     Theoretical studies and tools

                            Jeremy Allington-Smith (Durham Univ.)

11:45 – 12:45    Fiber termination/end processing, fiber characterization

                            Gabor Furesz (SAO)

                            Dionne Haynes (InnofSPEC)

12:45 – 14:00    Lunch

Session II.    General review talks, cntd.    chair: Sam Barden

14:00 – 15:00   Light injection and transport

                            Jon Lawrence (AAO)

15:00 – 16:00    Fiber positioners

                            Andy Sheinis (AAO)

16:00 – 16:20    Coffee

16:20 – 17:20   Lab visits    (laser frequency comb, fiber characterization lab)

Wednesday, August 20 – Specific Applications & Techniques

8:00 – 8:30    Coffee

Session III.    3D/IFU spectroscopy   (General review talks, finish)    chair: Jon Lawrence

8:30 – 9:30    Thoughtful design and calibration of fiber fed instruments

                            Debra Fischer (Yale)

                            Francesco Pepe (Geneva Obs.)

9:30 – 10:15    IFU and IFU-based survey design: details from hardware

                        through software to science

                            Niv Drory (UT Austin)

                            Matt Bershady (Univ. of Wisconsin)

10:15 – 10:30    Coffee

10:30 – 11:30    IFUs from experience – CALIFA, SAMI and VENGA

                            Guillermo Blanc (Carnegie Obs.)

                            Julia Bryant (Univ. of Sidney)

                            Sebastian Sanchez (CAHA)

                           

11:30 – 12:15    The VIRUS fiber system: design, fabrication, characterization

                          and data reduction issues

                            Gary Hill (UT Austin)

                            Andreas Kelz (AIP)

12:15 – 13:15    Lunch

13:15 – 14:00    IFUs for spectro-polarimetry applications

                            Haosheng Lin (Univ. of Hawaii)

Session IV.    Speciality fibers    chair: Gary Hill

14:00 – 14:45    Pioneering/developing of PCFs, multicore fibers and

                          photonic lanterns for astronomy specific development

                            Itandehui Gris Sanchez (Univ. of Bath)

14:45 – 15:30    Multicore fibers, fused fiber bundles and taper transitions

                            Dionne Haynes (InnofSPEC)

                            Sergio Leon-Saval (Univ. of Sidney)

15:30 – 15:45    Coffee

15:45 – 16:30    Fiber Bragg gratings and Photonics filters

                            Roger Haynes (InnofSPEC)

                            Simon Ellis (AAO)

16:30 – 17:15    Fiber based beam combiners, large mode area fibers,

                          few mode fibers

                            Joss Bland-Hawthorn (Univ. of Sidney) – remote talk

Thursday, August 21 – Specific Applications & Techniques, cntd.

8:00 – 8:30    Coffee

Session V.    Planar and 3D waveguide structures    chair: Roger Haynes

8:30 – 9:15    Pioneering the development of planar and 3D waveguide

                      structures in Astronomy

                        Robert Thomson (Heriot Watt Univ)

                        Nemanja Jovanovic (Subaru)

9:15 – 10:00   Integrated instrumentaion

                            Nick Cvetojevic (Univ. of Sidney)

                            

10:15 – 10:30    Coffee

Session VI.    High precision velocimetry and wavelength calibration    chair: Debra Fischer

10:30 – 11:15    Fibers for PRV spectroscopy

                            Gerardo Avila (ESO)

11:15 – 12:00    Fibers in laser frequency combs

                            David Phillips (SAO)

12:00 – 13:00    Lunch

Session VII.    Infrared fibers, interferometry, ELT instrumentation    chair: Dionne Haynes

13:00 – 13:45    Mid-infrared fibers and photonics in astronomy

                             Suvrath Mahedavan (Penn State)

                             Lucas Labadie (Univ. of Köln)

13:45 – 14:30    GRAVITY - The VLT 4-beam combiner for narrow-angle astrometry and

                           interferometric imaging

                              Nicolas Blind (MPA)

14:30 – 15:15    Efficient single-mode fiber/photonic lantern injection with extreme adaptive

                          optics: enabling precision radial velocity and long baseline interferometry

                             Nemanja Jovanovic (Subaru)

15:15 – 15:30    Coffee

15:30 – 16:30    Fibers, fiber based instrumentations in the ELT era

                            Martin Roth (AIP)

                            John Pazder (Natnl. Research Council)

16:30 – 17:30    Open discussion, wrap-up

                            lead: Gabor Furesz

Some further details about the review talks:

Introductory talk:

Optical fibers in astronomy - today and tomorrow (60 min talk)

present/future landscape:

-science cases calling for/benefiting from using fibers (MOS, IFU, dIFU, interferometry), which are the major areas of interest today and tomorrow, what will be addressed during this workshop

brief historical review:

-overview of where we left off with Fiber Optics in Astronomy (FOiA) III, what were the major developments in the past 15 years

-major fiber instruments of the past 15 years, being built or planned

-who are the people and where are the active groups doing active fiber development

-review of resources

REVIEW talks:

35 - 45 min talks   –   allowing for up to 15 min discussion

R1: Fiber manufacturing

-manufacturing basics and techniques, what has changed, what precision of process control can be achieved, how does it affect quality, quality control

-materials: control of NA, what are the changes in materials, improvements, future promises

-preforms: capabilities, limitations, geometries,

-protective jacketing

-developments, costs, custom metrials, custom preforms, manufacturing constraints

-transmission, control over properties, etc.

(Polymicro, Ceramoptec, Fiberware, ??? etc.)

R2: Theoretical studies and tools

-theory of light propagation/FRD/scrambling

-modeling approaches (ray tracing, modal decomposition, beam propagation, etc.)

-computational methods, software tools

-modeling predictions vs. experimental results

-specialty fibers: PCFs, multicore, etc. – how to handle these in modeling (more on specialty fibers in a separate session)

R3: Fiber termination/end processing, fiber characterization

-cleaving and polishing: pros and cons, inspection, quality control, devices for processing and evaluation

-fiber processing: splicing, tapering, end caps, end polish; devices and evaluation techniques, quality control

-AR coatings: low-temp coatings, more complex coatings with splicing, evaluation

-characterization: throughput, FRD, modal structure, scrambling, near/far field; equipment to measure, repeatability, consistency of methods

-who does these, are there standards?

R4: Fiber connectors, fiber protection/packaging/handling

this talk was cancelled

-mounting fibers: temporary (testing) vs. permanent mounts, connector standards, stress, FRD consequences

-low-loss modular connectors, multiple fiber connectors: transmission, wear, repeatability, implications on FRD

-environmental protection, packaging (single, multiple, high multiplex), fiber bundle management

-dealing with thermal and mechanical stress, wear (fatigue over time), FRD implications

R5: “handling” light before/within/after a fiber link

-image feed and/vs. pupil feed: what does it mean for the instrument design/science

-use of micro/rod/GRIN lenses, beam homogenizers

-fiber end “sculpting” (more on these under 3D/IFU session and talk Highly multiplexed spectroscopy)

-numerical aperture, tapers, focal ratio conversion

-feeding calibration light (mimicking telescope feed to match stellar data)

-modal noise, modal scrambling

-scattered light (how to deal with the FRD losses)

R6: Multi-object and highly multiplexed spectroscopy

(more emphasis on positioners since more details in separate session on IFUs)

-plugplates, robots with plates and magnetic buttons, r-theta positioners, Echidna, hexabugs (2dF, 6dF, OzPoz/FLAMES, FMOS, WFMOS, DESI, 4MOST, also LAMOST, WEAVES, MOONS)

-high fill factor bundles (hexabundles, square tiles, IFUs) as part of MOS probe systems

-IFU design basics, differences/integration to MOS

R7: Thoughtful design and calibration of fiber fed instruments

-flat fielding, sky subtraction, photometric and spectrophotometric calibration

-what are the error sources and how could those be eliminated by design, calibration or special observing techniques

-what are the implication (or limitations imposed) on the science cases

-data simulation: generation of highly realistic artificial data to aid/advise instrument design, help developing data reduction tools